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A Blog for those who have fun with science fiction, popular culture etc. I'll be following, movies and TV. Especially fond of 12 Monkeys, The X-Files, Orphan Black, Fringe, Dr. Who, James Bond, and the like.

Sleepy Hollow - Jeremy's Spoken... Again.

Well, I didn't see that coming. They said they had a surprise for us and I usually scoff at that kind of hype. But this time the hype was lived up to and then some.

Sleepy Hollow had it's two part season finale Monday night and for the most part it was a tepid affair. It is oh so difficult to live up to the penultimate episode of any season for any series. Hollow gave us a shocker of an episode the previous week and I thought it would be difficult to match.

My reservations were pretty much confirmed for the first part of last night's entry.

In, "The Indispensable Man" our Sleepy Hollow Scooby Gang spent much of the episode building a drama that just didn't seem to have legs.

I appreciated the "DaVinci Code" like mythology and the episode had a "Natural Treasure" like feel to it. Opening the secret tomb of George Washington with all it's fanfare is kibble to a history geek like myself.

And the fact that George Washington had himself turned into a zombie so he could transcribe a map to and from purgatory was pretty awesome.

Sadly, all of this was undercut over the confusion over whether the map was invaluable or not. Or whether it was a trap laid by the forces of evil. So, 200 plus years of alternate history went down the tubes because Ichy and Abbie decided their friendship was a lot more important and the map was burned.

Add to this Captain Irving giving himself up to protect Macey and a valuable piece was taken out of play. (Not to mention his relatively short screen time.) It seemed like Sleepy Hollow was spinning it's wheels.

That was about to change.

Come to think of it, Jenny got short shrift in this episode also. I was pleased to see John Noble's character get so much screen time but it seemed like a little much since he really hadn't earned it the way the others had.

Oh dear. What a set up.

The next time Moloch comes up with a prophesy. LISTEN!

The Witness Wonder Twins were thoroughly played. Everything started out ok. Abbie let Ichabod off the hook for his map recreation and we got a very cool "shattered mirror" entrance to the purgatory world. It quickly went from all sweetness and dreams come true to a soul pulverizing creep fest.

Not quite as creepy as Macey's transformation that oozed with maleficence but pretty ooky none the less. Ichabod and Abbie had passed their tests of temptation and the seemed to have the upper hand. As we were to learn it was all part of the plan.

We've seem a lot of shows where there is a master puppeteer. I'm not sure any of them could match the shrewd machinations of Mr. Moloch. Divide and conquer are the staples to any successful military campaign and in this Moloch was the supreme commander.

To see Abbies's cozy little dream of a safe place turn into a nightmare of a prison was such a terrible twist. (Terrible in a fantastically awesome evil way!) But wait it gets better!

To see Henry Parish revealed to be the long lost Jeremy, son to Ichabod and Katrina was jaw dropping. So very clever of the people behind Sleepy Hollow. I bow before their greatness. John Noble is a fan favorite. To everyone that followed him from Fringe as the avuncular and beloved Walter Bishop this was indeed a shock. Genius casting. I was so played!

This actually follows naturally from "The Vessel" episode where young Macey was possessed and corrupted. Now we find another youth that is tortured in his own right although Jeremy is corrupted in another way. His feelings of abandonment were artfully co-opted by Moloch and he was granted the power of revenge.

Well, not just revenge, the power to wage war against humanity. How's that for embittered incentive? Just as Abraham was given the power of the Headless Horseman and the first rider of the Apacalypse. Now Jeremy is the second rider, War.

Now I know how Andy Brooks feels. My head was spinning!

I stared at the TV screen in amazement. I was flush with the excitement at being so completely surprised. Then it hit me. The good guys are completely screwed.

Ichabod has been banished to Jeremy's former prison (more family roots.)

Katrina has been given over to the Headless Horseman which must be worse than purgatory.

Abbie is trapped in a Dollhouse born of her own recrimination.

Jennie lays broken and vulnerable.

Irving is on his way to the big house.

Andy Brooks isn't going to be of any help since his own transformation.

Sineater Henry Parish has, well, changed jobs.

Who's left?

They.

Are.

Screwed.

I can only imagine Katrina may get her powers back or Macey has been transformed in a way we haven't imagined.

Screwed.

What are your thoughts? Do you see a way for good to overcome evil? Were you as pleasantly blown away as I was?

Share your thoughts while I get my head twisted back in the right direction!

Comments

In some shows I feel downright ashamed when I miss an important clue and let the surprise ending creep up on me and yell BOO!!! No shame here... From the moment we met Henry Parish I was puzzled by his name. Of all the names for a Sin Eater, Henry seems a bit wimpy. Why not Ezekiel, Samson, David or any other strong biblical name. Perhaps his alias was chosen purposely as his mother HAD given him such a name.

When I hear John Noble and Henry in the same sentence my mind rushed to the Redverse. Baby Henry was erased as was necessary, while his parents, having made different decisions, lived far different, but happy lives. Sleepy Hollow Henry survives while his parents are relegated to doom. St Henry Parish indeed.

All I can say is WOW! They got me good with this one. I never saw the twist with Henry coming. Looking back John Noble has been playing him with a certain amount of mystery, but never enough to overtly tip his hand. I can't wait to see what they do with him next. So will the other 2 horsemen have personal ties to Icahbod? Daddy dearest perhaps? I'd love to see Victor Garber return as papa Crane. And how completely cool do horseman war and his steed look with the flaming sword and invisible limbs. They somehow topped headless. I had almost completely forgotten about headless until he showed up at that inopportune moment, nicely played.

I love how all the characters are all left in peril and in completely separate peril from each other. Even poor energizer demon Andy, because I don't think he's done either. It was great to see Clancy Brown and John Cho peppered throughout the season and not just the pilot. I hope both can come back next season. Andy's crush on Abbie, do you think they gave him a story that was originally meant for Luke? Speaking of Luke, he is available to start rescuing the others if he gets clued into what is going on. Other than that I have no idea who will emerge to save them. (Oh and I guess my theory that blond cop was an embedded Hessian didn't pan out.)

Symbolism. Bird wings flapping when Ichabod finds Abbie in purgatory. Certainly an overload of masonic all seeing eye and pyramids in Washington's tomb. That whole scene was so over the top National Treasure complete with self lighting torches, HA! The lay lines on the map, they look a lot like the Hessian tattoo that was on the back of death's head. Also Andy's chest as he's reborn. I don't recall if we got a name for that symbol along the way. Abbie went through the looking glass and is now trapped in a little house complete with a tea party, very Alice. The last one that stood out for me was in the headquarters room before Abbie and Ichabod set out on their quest, in the foreground between them is an old balance. The kind of scales you see in courtroom symbolism. Whatever the witnesses decide to do, everything hangs in the balance.

I can't believe we're going to have to wait until fall for more of this show. What a fantastic surprise it has been!

The speculation has started on who would be the next two Horsemen. They all seem to have a close connection to Crane so I guess we should start looking there. It would seem to follow that Pa Crane would be a Horseman. He does have the requisite anger issues with Ichabod. Dig him up!

Here's one from left field. How about Katrina as a Horseman? She'll feel betrayed by Crane's failure to protect and or rescue her and perhaps Abraham will "welcome" her to the world of the dead. A long shot but she does have close ties to Crane.

I'm at a loss who will come to their rescue. They have to be rescued or the show can't go on! I can only think of Katrina regaining her powers, Irving getting out of prison or a Macey surprise. Eh, it willl probably be Jenny. She'll recover and find a way to purgatory to rescue her sister. Then Abbie will be able to rescue Crane.

Yes! The birds are back! Have you been watching True Detective? Some great bird imagery there. Especially at the end. See my latest post on that show for some pictures.

Oh I LOVE the idea of Katrina becoming a horseman!!! The scene of Abby and Ichabod's goodbye in the church already planted a seed of jealousy as further motivation. Or maybe she will join up just to be with her son, or to try and free him? At any rate, I would love to see her don some armor and ride off with that red hair flying.

Yes on True Detective, heading to you post on that next!

Finales. Many shows have finales with huge mind blowing cliffhangers and twists. I am hard pressed to remember one on any show that had 4+ cliffhangers that all emotionally resonated and caught me so off guard. I think this was a very well crafted first season. Some hiccups sure, but overall the emotional beats were there and that makes mythology nitpicking seem petty. I can't wait to see these characters reunite and perhaps open up the world of Sleepy Hollow a bit more.

Jealousy is a great motivator. Not a good one, an evil one. We'll see!

Donning the armor and letting the red hair fly is a great image. Kind of like "Red Sonja" but with a bit more clothes.

It was a pretty spectacular finale. I hope the next season will live up to it. If they go as far as having the four horsemen unite wouldn't that mean the apocalypse? (BTW, loved how Henry asked for the definition of apocalypse before he sprung his trap on them.)

(I haven't read the other comments yet, so forgive me if I repeat, will read them after)

Great review, as usual. I also found the first part rather tepid, so much so that I stopped watching (while the episode finished taped) and called it a day. After seeing you all post about it, I watched the second part the next non-hockey night, and I will happily admit, I'd been had, through and through. Never saw it coming.

I'm not super-keen on the basic premise of Sleepy Hollow, but there have been just enough interesting elements to keep me interested. I'm not a very knowledgable history buff like you are, Dave, but it is interesting to see history involved (it would be neat if they showed some of the French-Canadian history that was, at that time, mixed up with american).

I was extremely underwhelmed when John Noble came on the cast. I LOVE John Noble, and ADORED Walter Bishop (my autographed sketch is so treasured), but he did not seem to fit this show at all and couldn' get my head around it.

Yikes.

I shoulda know bettah.... :-) The last forty-five minutes of the finale were great, and the last 20 minutes or so were like... what? Say what??

I don't know if the writers planned it that way, but if they did, they should be awarded medals for taking chances. And even if they didn't, well done anyway. It was difficult to believe that John Noble had such a teensy part. I'm not at all surprised that Ichabod's son came back, not a bit, but I never suspected Mr Noble.

I feel terrible saying it, but Abby's character disappoints me quite a bit. Her character didn't feel real during the vast part of this finale... Is it a fault or another smoke screen?

I think being "underwhelmed" by John Noble's character was part of the plan. Such a great use of a beloved actor. Pow!

I don't think I've been that stunned since I watched the "Red Wedding" episode of "Game of Thrones". That left me staring at the darkened ceiling for hours. This one kept me awake with delight. My mind couldn't stop replaying it and thinking about future scenarios.

I'm not big on Abbie either. She's ok. She used to be so inconsistent to start the season. At least they have a grip on her character now. My favorite is her sister Jennie. I hope she gets a bigger role next season.